Papa John's International Inc (PZZA) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning and thank you for standing by, and welcome to David Jones Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 earnings call and webcast. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer session to ask a question. During the session, you'll need to press star one one on your telephone. You will then have an automatic message biting your hand is raised. Please note that today's conference call is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to Stacy Foley, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go.

早安，感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎參加 David Jones 第四季和 2023 年全年財報電話會議和網路廣播。此時，所有參與者都處於只聽模式。演講者演講結束後，將進行問答環節。在會議期間，您需要在電話上一一按星號。然後，您會收到一條自動訊息，要求您舉起手。請注意，今天的電話會議正在錄音。現在我想將會議交給投資者關係副總裁史黛西·福利 (Stacy Foley)。請離開。

Good morning and welcome to our fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings conference call. This morning, we issued our fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings release. A copy of the release can be obtained on our Investor Relations website at ir dot Papa John's.com under the News Releases tab, our by contacting our Investor Relations department at investor underscore relations at Papa John's.com.

早上好，歡迎參加我們的 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。今天早上，我們發布了 2023 年第四季和全年財報。您可以在我們的投資者關係網站（ir dot Papa John's.com）的「新聞發布」標籤下取得該新聞稿的副本，也可以聯絡我們的投資者關係部門（在Papa John's.com 的投資者下劃線關係處）取得該新聞稿的副本。

On the call this morning are Rob Lynch, our President and CEO, and Robbie's Ana Paula, our Chief Financial Officer.

今天早上參加電話會議的是我們的總裁兼執行長 Rob Lynch 和我們的財務長 Robbie 的 Ana Paula。

Before we begin, I need to remind you that comments made during this call will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. Forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements in our earnings release and the risk factors included in our SEC filings. In addition, please refer to our earnings release for the required reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures discussed on today's call.

在我們開始之前，我需要提醒您，在本次電話會議中發表的評論將包括聯邦證券法含義內的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述可能涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與這些陳述有重大差異。前瞻性陳述應與我們的收益發布中的警示性陳述以及我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中包含的風險因素結合起來考慮。此外，請參閱我們的收益報告，以了解今天電話會議上討論的非公認會計原則財務指標的必要調節。

Lastly, let me thank you in advance for asking only one question and getting back in the queue for more follow-up. Rob?

最後，讓我提前感謝您只提出一個問題並回到隊列中進行更多後續跟進。搶？

Thank you, Stacy. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. Before we get into our 2023 results and our 2024 strategic initiatives.

謝謝你，史黛西。大家早安，感謝您加入我們。在我們討論 2023 年業績和 2024 年策略舉措之前。

I'd like to take a moment to briefly reflect on the progress that we've made over the last five years when I joined Papa John's in 2019, system-wide sales, North America units and operating income were rapidly declining. Since then, our team and franchisees have worked incredibly hard to rebuild the brand and regain consumer loyalty. Our focus and diligence during some of the most dynamic times in our industry has strengthened Papa John's and positioned us for sustainable growth in the QSR space to our team members and franchisees. Thank you for your commitment and dedication to our customers, our values and our brands. And we're playing a key role in our success because of these efforts today, we are reporting another year of record global systemwide sales, our fourth consecutive year of positive North America comps, accelerating North America unit growth and adjusted operating income with a five-year kegger of approximately 12%. More importantly, we made foundational improvements to our restaurant operations, grew our global restaurant footprint, improved our menu with innovative new products and advanced our digital and marketing platforms to support the evolution of our business model for our next chapter of growth. Our product innovation rooted in our brand promise of better ingredients, better pizza continues to be at the heart of our success. And 2023, we expanded some of our most popular platforms with the garlic Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza to reduce Cool Ranch pop ideas and new Papa bites, including Oreo and took flavors. We also introduced new innovations like our crispy parm pizza, becoming the first large pizza chain to put cheese on the bottom of the crust and brought back fan favorites like our chaperone a pizza. We also executed on our back to better 1.0 initiatives driving operational improvements to deliver better pizza with better service at our company-owned restaurants. We've reduced our out-the-door times nearly 25% to average under 20 minutes today, and we've seen our overall customer satisfaction scores continue to improve.

我想花點時間簡要回顧一下我們在過去五年中取得的進展，當我於 2019 年加入棒約翰時，整個系統的銷售額、北美銷量和營業收入都在迅速下降。從那時起，我們的團隊和加盟商付出了難以置信的努力來重建品牌並重新獲得消費者的忠誠度。我們在行業中一些最具活力的時期的專注和勤奮增強了棒約翰的實力，並使我們能夠在 QSR 領域為我們的團隊成員和特許經營商實現可持續增長。感謝您對我們的客戶、我們的價值觀和我們的品牌的承諾和奉獻。由於今天的這些努力，我們在我們的成功中發揮著關鍵作用，我們報告了全球系統銷售額又創歷史新高的一年，我們連續第四年在北美地區取得積極的業績，加快了北美地區的單位成長，調整後的營業收入以五倍的速度成長。更重要的是，我們對餐廳營運進行了根本性改進，擴大了我們的全球餐廳足跡，透過創新的新產品改進了我們的菜單，並改進了我們的數位和行銷平台，以支持我們業務模式的發展，以實現下一個成長篇章。我們的產品創新植根於我們對更好的原料、更好的披薩的品牌承諾，這仍然是我們成功的核心。2023 年，我們擴展了一些最受歡迎的平台，推出了大蒜史詩餡餅披薩，以減少 Cool Ranch 流行創意和新的爸爸小吃，包括奧利奧和口味。我們還推出了新的創新產品，例如脆皮帕姆披薩，成為第一家將起司放在餅皮底部的大型披薩連鎖店，並帶回了粉絲最愛的產品，例如我們的伴侶披薩。我們還執行了更好的 1.0 計劃，推動營運改進，以便在我們公司擁有的餐廳提供更好的披薩和更好的服務。今天，我們的戶外時間減少了近 25%，平均時間低於 20 分鐘，而且我們的整體客戶滿意度得分持續提高。

This great work has earned us the number one ranking in customer service for the pizza category on the American Customer Satisfaction Index in 2023 we also continue to lean into our domestic third-party aggregator partnerships as sales through this channel reached another high in the fourth quarter, growing more than 10% sequentially and up more than 50% from a year ago. As we've mentioned on past calls, there continues to be a lot of room for category expansion in this channel. We have seen that new competitors entering the marketplace does not necessarily lead to significant volume loss for a brand like ours that has been thriving in this space for years. Our quarter to date trends have continued to increase relative to our fourth quarter run rate, and we have increased our market share in this channel. In early January, we announced back to better. 2.0. These initiatives are designed to drive best-in-class pizza QSR unit economics through higher sales, higher restaurant-level margins and higher return on investment on new domestic restaurant openings, our largest and most profitable markets as part of our efforts to enhance our domestic national marketing investment and effectiveness. We went through an extensive advertising and media review process aimed at sharpening our analytics and formed approach to marketing and consolidating and optimizing our partners at the national level to drive scale.

這項出色的工作為我們贏得了2023 年美國客戶滿意度指數中披薩類別客戶服務第一名，我們也繼續依靠國內第三方聚合商合作夥伴關係，因為透過該管道的銷售額在第四季度再創新高，季增超過 10%，較去年同期成長超過 50%。正如我們在過去的電話會議中所提到的，該管道仍然有很大的品類擴展空間。我們已經看到，新競爭對手進入市場並不一定會導致像我們這樣在這個領域蓬勃發展多年的品牌的銷量大幅下降。相對於第四季度的運作率，我們的季度迄今趨勢持續增加，並且我們增加了在此通路的市佔率。一月初，我們宣布回歸更好。2.0。這些舉措旨在透過更高的銷售額、更高的餐廳利潤率和更高的國內新餐廳投資回報率來推動一流的披薩快餐單位經濟效益，這是我們最大和利潤最高的市場，也是我們努力增強國內水準的一部分。我們經歷了廣泛的廣告和媒體審查流程，旨在加強我們的分析，形成行銷方法，並在國家層面鞏固和優化我們的合作夥伴以擴大規模。

As a result of this process, we have shifted to a more productive nationally focused marketing model we are increasing the per store investment in the national marketing fund from 5% to 6% of sales beginning in the second quarter of 2024, while eliminating the 3% required local spend. The required marketing contribution rate decreases from 8% to 6% and brings the added benefit of an immediate 200 basis points of margin at the restaurant level, along with a bigger impact from their marketing spend. I am thankful for the overwhelming support we receive from our franchisees on this change more than 90% of the system voted in favor highlighting the confidence our franchisees have in our go-forward marketing strategy. This includes improved audience selection, improved return on ad spend, sustained loyalty and increased cultural buzz our new partners are ramping quickly, and we look forward to sharing how our marketing programs are evolving on future calls. Additionally, we are optimizing our investments in data science and marketing technology to enhance our consumer value perception driven by occasion daypart and brand. Part of our success in driving positive sales over the past several years has been our ability to strike the right balance between ticket and transaction growth. This is accomplished through our barbell strategy that offers premium innovation while delivering on the needs of our value customers. We're focused on delivering value in every segment of our business, whether that is through promoted price points, our core menu, our premium innovation, moving to unit development and how we are incentivizing our franchisees to grow. In November, we launched a new development incentive to improve the return on capital investment of new domestic restaurants by waiving national marketing fund contributions for the first five years. This equates to 600 basis points of annual cost savings in their restaurant.

這個過程的結果是，我們轉向了更有效率的以全國為重點的行銷模式，從2024 年第二季開始，我們將每家商店的全國行銷基金投資從銷售額的5% 增加到6%，同時消除了 3所需的本地支出百分比。所需的行銷貢獻率從 8% 降至 6%，並為餐廳帶來直接 200 個基點利潤的額外好處，以及行銷支出的更大影響。我很感謝我們的加盟商對這項變更給予了壓倒性的支持，超過 90% 的系統投票贊成，這突顯了我們的加盟商對我們前進的行銷策略的信心。這包括改善受眾選擇、提高廣告支出回報、持續忠誠度和增加文化熱度，我們的新合作夥伴正在迅速壯大，我們期待在未來的電話會議上分享我們的行銷計劃如何發展。此外，我們正在優化對數據科學和行銷技術的投資，以增強由時段和品牌驅動的消費者價值感知。過去幾年，我們成功推動積極銷售的部分原因在於我們能夠在門票和交易成長之間取得適當的平衡。這是透過我們的槓鈴策略實現的，該策略提供優質創新，同時滿足我們價值客戶的需求。我們專注於在我們業務的每個部分創造價值，無論是透過促銷價格點、我們的核心菜單、我們的優質創新、轉向單位開發以及我們如何激勵我們的特許經營商成長。11月，我們推出了新的發展激勵措施，透過免除前五年的國家行銷基金繳款來提高新建國內餐廳的資本投資回報率。這相當於他們的餐廳每年節省 600 個基點的成本。

P&L's for the first five years were an approximately $360,000 total benefit that will significantly improve the cash-on-cash payback for our developing franchisees who will be new units in 2024. This incentive will now extend into 2025 offering three years of national marketing fund relief or an approximately $216,000 average benefit for new units opened in 2025. Currently in North America, we have more than 100 units in our pipeline at various stages of developed. We are confident that this incentive program, which delivers best in class cash-on-cash returns, coupled with improved restaurant margins, customer service levels, marketing efficiencies and technology and analytics platforms will drive sustained development momentum for Papa John's, given the business model changes associated with back to better 2.0, these restaurants built in 2024 have the potential to be some of the most profitable restaurants in our system. All of these strategic actions are designed to drive strong top line sales and more volume, which in turn makes our supply chain more productive. We are evolving our commissary business and increasing our fixed operating margin to drive profitable growth for our company, while improving supply chain productivity and delivering long-term cost savings for our system. For example, our franchisees can now earn annual incentive based rebates as they increase volume and open new restaurants. The incremental volume driven by increased marketing and additional development will reduce the shared supply chain costs across the system. We are excited about these initiatives and the value that they will create for Papa John's and for our North America franchisees, not only as they ramp up in 2024, but over the next several years.

前五年的損益總額約為 36 萬美元，這將顯著提高我們發展中的特許經營商的現金回報，這些特許經營商將在 2024 年成為新單位。該激勵措施現將延續至 2025 年，為 2025 年開業的新單位提供三年的全國行銷基金減免或平均約 216,000 美元的福利。目前在北美，我們有 100 多個處於不同開發階段的產品正在研發中。我們相信，鑑於業務模式，這項激勵計劃將提供一流的現金回報，再加上餐廳利潤率、客戶服務水平、營銷效率以及技術和分析平台的改善，將推動棒約翰的持續發展動力隨著回到更好的2.0 相關的變化，這些建於2024 年的餐廳有潛力成為我們系統中最賺錢的餐廳之一。所有這些策略行動都是為了推動強勁的營收和銷售量，從而提高我們的供應鏈的生產力。我們正在發展我們的小賣部業務並提高我們的固定營業利潤率，以推動我們公司的獲利成長，同時提高供應鏈生產力並為我們的系統節省長期成本。例如，我們的特許經營商現在可以在增加銷售和開設新餐廳時獲得基於年度獎勵的回扣。由增加的營銷和額外的開發推動的增量將減少整個系統的共享供應鏈成本。我們對這些舉措以及它們將為棒約翰和我們的北美特許經營商創造的價值感到興奮，不僅是在 2024 年，而且是在未來幾年。

Now to our international business over the past 10 years, we have more than doubled our international footprint and now operate in 50 countries and territories as we pursue our next phase of international growth. We are evolving our business model to deliver an enhanced value proposition to our customers and franchisees ensure targeted investments in efficient resource management and better position our largest markets for long-term success beyond new unit development it's about sustainably and profitably growing all of our restaurants globally. This past year, we've made significant enhancements to our international organization and infrastructure. As part of these efforts, we established international regional hubs and key target regions, Asia Pacific, India and Latin America.

就我們的國際業務而言，在過去 10 年裡，我們的國際足跡增加了一倍以上，目前已在 50 個國家和地區開展業務，並追求下一階段的國際成長。我們正在發展我們的業務模式，為我們的客戶和特許經營商提供更高的價值主張，確保對高效資源管理進行有針對性的投資，並更好地定位我們最大的市場，以實現新單位開發之外的長期成功，這涉及到我們在全球所有餐廳的可持續和盈利增長。去年，我們顯著增強了我們的國際組織和基礎設施。作為這些努力的一部分，我們建立了國際區域中心和主要目標區域：亞太地區、印度和拉丁美洲。

These hubs are led by experienced general managers who are partnering with franchisees to create holistic strategies to drive profitable sales in their markets. Our teams are now aligned to the corporate and local levels to execute global best practices and operations, marketing and technology to accomplish our long-term objective of increasing market share in key markets around the world to support our international teams and franchisees. We are investing in consumer-facing technology, digital infrastructure and enhanced financial and operational reporting by investing in expanded ordering capabilities through our website and app and leveraging analytics, we expect to improve conversion, increased customer retention and deliver faster consumer insights to franchisees. This playbook is similar to what we successfully implemented within the US over the past few years, and we expect it to be equally successful as we expand this investment strip strategy globally.

這些中心由經驗豐富的總經理領導，他們與特許經營商合作制定整體策略，以推動其市場的獲利銷售。我們的團隊現在與公司和地方層面保持一致，執行全球最佳實踐和營運、行銷和技術，以實現我們增加全球主要市場市場份額的長期目標，以支持我們的國際團隊和特許經營商。我們正在投資面向消費者的技術、數位基礎設施以及增強的財務和營運報告，透過我們的網站和應用程式投資擴展的訂購功能並利用分析，我們希望提高轉換率，提高客戶保留率，並為特許經營者提供更快的消費者洞察。該策略與我們過去幾年在美國成功實施的策略類似，我們預計，隨著我們在全球擴展這項投資剝離策略，它也會同樣成功。

We are also making progress on our repositioning efforts within the UK market and expect to improve and profitability during 2024 and 2023, we supported the transition of 61 underperforming UK franchised restaurants to other more proven UK franchisees. We have seen a significant improvement in the performance of these locations with their fourth quarter comp sales finishing well ahead of the other restaurants within the UK market. In fact, the fourth quarter was the second consecutive quarter of positive comp sales for our UK franchisees.

我們在英國市場的重新定位工作上也取得了進展，預計在 2024 年和 2023 年期間將提高盈利能力，我們支持 61 家表現不佳的英國特許經營餐廳向其他更成熟的英國特許經營商轉型。我們看到這些餐廳的業績顯著改善，第四季的贈品銷售額遠遠領先英國市場上的其他餐廳。事實上，第四季是我們的英國特許經營商連續第二個季度實現正銷售。

If you'll recall, in June, we announced the transition of 118 UK franchise restaurants to company ownership. As anticipated, these new company-owned UK restaurants were dilutive to 2023, adjusted operating income by approximately $9 million, which takes into consideration the restaurant's current year operating loss and the foregone prior year royalties similar to the other UK restaurants that transitioned to new owners. We are seeing sequential improvements in the performance of our company-owned restaurants together, our Company-owned restaurants and franchise locations in the UK are reporting positive comps to start 2024, and we continue to explore options to maximize the value and cash flow of our UK portfolio, ensuring alignment of the region and its performance with our long-term strategy.

如果您還記得，6 月份，我們宣布將 118 家英國特許經營餐廳轉為公司所有。正如預期的那樣，這些新公司擁有的英國餐廳到2023 年將被攤薄，調整後的營業收入約為900 萬美元，其中考慮了餐廳本年度的營業虧損和放棄的上一年特許權使用費，與其他過渡到新所有者的英國餐廳類似。我們看到我們公司自有餐廳的業績不斷改善，我們在英國的公司自有餐廳和特許經營店報告稱，從2024 年開始將實現積極的業績回報，我們將繼續探索各種方案，以最大限度地提高我們公司的價值和現金流。

We have also made the decision to close approximately 50 underperforming company-owned restaurants in the second quarter of 2024. These restaurants accounted for roughly two thirds of our operating loss in the UK in the fourth quarter, and we'll continue to evaluate our remaining portfolio as well as our franchisee locations, focusing on sales trends, overall profitability and their lease and loan obligations. Through this process, additional strategic closures could occur as we look to drive improved profitability for our remaining stores, Optimiz trade zones and strengthening our franchisee base within this important market.

我們也決定在 2024 年第二季關閉約 50 家業績不佳的公司自營餐廳。這些餐廳約占我們第四季度在英國營業虧損的三分之二，我們將繼續評估我們剩餘的投資組合以及特許經營地點，重點關注銷售趨勢、整體盈利能力及其租賃和貸款義務。透過這個過程，當我們希望提高剩餘商店、Optimiz 貿易區的獲利能力並加強我們在這個重要市場中的特許經營基礎時，可能會發生更多的策略關閉。

In this dynamic global environment, our industry is facing challenges from the potential impact of geopolitical events. We are closely monitoring these situations, and we'll maintain flexibility with our operations in those impacted regions. We are committed to our international transformational initiatives as we believe they best position us to realize our next phase of global growth and set our largest markets up for long-term success.

在這個動態的全球環境中，我們的產業面臨地緣政治事件潛在影響的挑戰。我們正在密切關注這些情況，並將在受影響地區保持營運的靈活性。我們致力於我們的國際轉型計劃，因為我們相信它們最有利於我們實現下一階段的全球成長，並為我們最大的市場取得長期成功奠定基礎。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Ravi to cover the financial portion of today's call. Ravi?

現在我想將電話轉給拉維，由他負責今天電話會議的財務部分。拉維？

Thank you, Rob, and good morning, everyone. To start, I'd like to echo Rob's sentiments and thank the entire Papa John's system for their focus and commitment to driving forward our strategic priorities during this past year towards our ambition to become the QSR brand of choice for consumers and franchisees around the world.

謝謝你，羅布，大家早安。首先，我想回應 Rob 的觀點，並感謝棒約翰整個系統在過去的一年裡對推動我們的戰略重點的關注和承諾，以實現我們成為全球消費者和特許經營商首選的 QSR 品牌的雄心壯志。 。

Now for a closer look at our fourth quarter financial results. Global system-wide restaurant sales were $1.34 billion, up 11% in constant currency from the prior year fourth quarter. The increase was largely attributable to the shift in our 2023 fiscal calendar to include a 14th week in the fourth quarter, resulting in approximately nine percentage points of growth outside of the extra week. Global system-wide sales were up approximately 2% in the quarter, driven by new restaurant openings and higher North America comparable sales. Our 2% increase in North America. Comp sales was the result of increases in transactions and ticket growth for both our domestic Company-owned restaurants and franchised restaurants. We continue to see higher transactions driven by our aggregator channel. While our ticket growth is supported by the work our teams are doing to enhance customer value perception.

現在仔細看看我們第四季的財務表現。全球全系統餐廳銷售額為 13.4 億美元，以固定匯率計算比去年第四季成長 11%。這一增長主要歸因於我們 2023 年財政日曆的轉變，將第四季度的第 14 週納入其中，導致除了額外的一周之外，增長了約 9 個百分點。在新餐廳開業和北美可比銷售額上升的推動下，本季全球全系統銷售額成長了約 2%。我們在北美的增幅為 2%。比較銷售是我們國內公司自營餐廳和特許經營餐廳的交易量和門票增長的結果。我們繼續看到聚合管道推動的交易量增加。雖然我們的門票成長是由我們的團隊為增強客戶價值感知所做的工作所支持的。

International comparable sales decreased approximately 6% in the fourth quarter, of which approximately 4% was related to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The remaining 2% was the rubble zone of continued pressure across multiple markets. Somewhat offset by a 1% positive comp performance from our UK franchisees.

第四季國際可比銷售額下降約6%，其中約4%與中東持續衝突有關。剩下的 2% 是多個市場持續承壓的瓦礫區。我們的英國特許經營商 1% 的積極業績表現在一定程度上抵消了這一影響。

Total revenue for the fourth quarter were $571 million, up 9% from a year ago. And while the increase was largely driven by the additional week of operations in 2023 and the consolidation of the UK restaurants, we don't want to lose sight of our positive North America comp sales, which also contributed to our revenue growth in the quarter.

第四季總營收為 5.71 億美元，年增 9%。雖然這一增長主要是由於 2023 年額外一周的運營和英國餐廳的整合推動的，但我們不想忽視北美公司的積極銷售，這也促進了我們本季度的收入增長。

Now turning to profits. Adjusted operating income for the fourth quarter was $47 million up from $38 million a year ago. The key drivers of our fourth quarter growth include a roughly $8 million benefit from the extra week of operations in 2023, an approximate $6 million increase from our domestic company-owned restaurants, driven by higher sales, lower commodity and labor costs, lower insurance expense related to improving auto and workers' compensation claims experience, leveraging the on-demand labor that aggregators provide through their delivery as a service model and a continued focus on cost discipline while still pursuing strategic growth initiatives.

現在轉向利潤。第四季調整後營業收入為 4,700 萬美元，高於去年同期的 3,800 萬美元。我們第四季成長的主要驅動力包括2023 年額外一週營運帶來的約800 萬美元收益，由於銷售額增加、商品和勞動力成本降低、保險費用降低，我們國內公司自營餐廳的收益增加約600萬美元涉及改善汽車和工人賠償索賠體驗、利用聚合商透過其交付即服務模式提供的按需勞動力以及持續關注成本控制，同時仍追求策略性成長措施。

This growth was partially offset by an approximately $5 million year-over-year impact related to our UK acquisition. When taking into consideration a fourth quarter 2023 operating loss and a fourth quarter of 2022 franchise royalty fees, higher G&A expenses as anticipated due to higher performance-based compensation expense when compared with the fourth quarter last year and higher G&A expense as we continue to invest in our restaurants and our technology support, along with the consolidation of the acquired UK restaurants in 2023.

這一增長被我們英國收購相關的約 500 萬美元的同比影響部分抵消。考慮到2023 年第四季的營業虧損和2022 年第四季的特許經營權使用費，由於與去年第四季相比更高的基於績效的薪酬費用以及隨著我們繼續投資而更高的一般管理費用，預計一般管理費用會更高我們的餐廳和技術支持，以及 2023 年收購的英國餐廳的整合。

Adjusted operating margin for the fourth quarter was 8.3%, up from 7.3% a year ago, largely due to the additional week in 2023. Excluding the additional week, adjusted operating margin was up approximately 20 basis points compared with last year. To provide you a little bit more color on our fourth quarter domestic company-owned restaurant level margins. Overall, these margins improved by approximately 330 basis points compared with the prior year fourth quarter, when excluding the 53rd week of operation driving the improved margin was approximately 170 basis point benefit from lower food basket costs as we continued to see relief from prior year peaks and proteins. Cheese and deli labor costs also improved by approximately 90 basis points during the quarter as our restaurant teams continue to do an excellent job executing our service and productivity initiatives.

第四季調整後營業利潤率為 8.3%，高於去年同期的 7.3%，主要是由於 2023 年增加了一周。排除額外一週的影響，調整後的營業利潤率比去年增加了約 20 個基點。為您提供有關我們第四季度國內公司自有餐廳利潤率的更多資訊。總體而言，與去年第四季相比，這些利潤率提高了約330 個基點，不包括營運第53 週，利潤率提高約170 個基點，受益於較低的食品籃成本，因為我們繼續看到去年高峰有所緩解和蛋白質。由於我們的餐廳團隊繼續出色地執行我們的服務和生產力計劃，起司和熟食店的勞動力成本在本季度也下降了約 90 個基點。

Moving onto cash flow and our balance sheet. For fiscal year 2023, net cash provided by operating activities was $193 million, up from $118 million a year ago after deducting $77 million in capital expenditures for the development of new domestic restaurants and investments in technology innovation, we generated free cash flow of $116 million. This is up from $39 million generated in 2022 reflecting the positive flow-through of our overall business performance and higher accrued expenses.

轉向現金流和我們的資產負債表。2023財年，經營活動提供的淨現金為1.93億美元，高於一年前的1.18億美元，扣除用於開發新國內餐廳和技術創新投資的7,700萬美元資本支出後，我們產生了1.16億美元的自由現金流。這比 2022 年產生的 3,900 萬美元有所增加，反映了我們整體業務業績的積極流動和更高的應計費用。

We ended the year with ample liquidity $277 million in cash and borrowing available under our revolving credit facility and a gross leverage of 3.2 times. We also returned significant cash to our shareholders in 2023. In total, we repurchased 2.5 million shares or $210 million and paid $59 million in cash dividends. We have approximately $90 million remaining for repurchase under our current share repurchase authorization our capital structure provides us with substantial operating flexibility will continue to take a disciplined and balanced approach to managing our cash flows, creating shareholder value through a combination of organic growth investments, debt repayments, cash dividends and share repurchase?

截至年底，我們擁有充足的流動性，包括 2.77 億美元的現金和循環信貸額度下的可用借款，總槓桿率為 3.2 倍。2023 年，我們也向股東返還了大量現金。我們總共回購了 250 萬股股票或 2.1 億美元，並支付了 5,900 萬美元的現金股利。根據目前的股票回購授權，我們還有大約9000 萬美元可供回購。透過有機成長投資、債務的組合創造股東價值還款、現金分紅和股票回購？

Yes, turning to development, in the fourth quarter, we added 36 net new units in North America, bringing our total North America net new units in 2023 to 57 at more than 50% increase over last year's net new unit growth. We now have 3,433 North America restaurants, and we continue to be pleased with the performance of our newly opened restaurants, and we will prioritize our North America development efforts. Internationally, we opened 53 net new units in the fourth quarter, bringing our full year international development to 151 net new units and our total international restaurant count to 2,473.

是的，談到開發，第四季度，我們在北美淨新增了 36 個單位，使 2023 年北美淨新單位總數達到 57 個，比去年的淨新單位增長超過 50%。我們現在在北美擁有 3,433 家餐廳，我們對新開餐廳的業績繼續感到滿意，我們將優先考慮北美的發展工作。在國際方面，我們在第四季度淨新開設了 53 家門市，使全年國際新開店數量達到 151 家，國際餐廳總數達到 2,473 家。

Now to our outlook. As we look to 2024, we are well positioned to continue driving forward our long-term strategy, and we expect to deliver our fifth consecutive year of positive North America comp sales growth. However, a more cautious consumer is placing more pressure on transactions through our organic delivery channel, even as our domestic third-party aggregator sales continue to accelerate.

現在談談我們的展望。展望 2024 年，我們已做好充分準備，繼續推進我們的長期策略，我們預計北美公司銷售將連續第五年實現正成長。然而，儘管我們的國內第三方聚合商銷售持續加速，但更謹慎的消費者正在對我們的有機交付管道的交易施加更大的壓力。

This has led to comps being down approximately 1% for the first eight weeks of the quarter. As we've discussed today, we're excited about the work our teams are doing to leverage our robust consumer data platforms to influence our media pricing and menu strategies. We continue to take a balanced approach in this environment, providing the right promotions to our value-oriented customers without risking the erosion of our brand, our pricing integrity on our more premium offerings. We have great confidence in our ability to accelerate North America comps in Q2 in the back half of the year.

這導致本季前八週的比較下降了約 1%。正如我們今天所討論的，我們對我們的團隊正在利用我們強大的消費者數據平台來影響我們的媒體定價和菜單策略所做的工作感到興奮。在這種環境下，我們繼續採取平衡的方法，為我們以價值為導向的客戶提供正確的促銷活動，而不冒著我們的品牌和我們更優質產品的定價完整性受到侵蝕的風險。我們對下半年第二季北美市場加速成長的能力充滿信心。

As such, we expect to deliver 2024 full year comps at the lower end of our long-term target of 2% to 4% growth. Internationally, I'm pleased to report that quarter to date we have seen a moderate sequential improvement in international comps, positive performance at our UK company owned and franchised restaurants, along with solid sales in other international markets, offsetting the impact from the Middle East conflict. We are in a dynamic environment and continuing to maintain a cautious outlook on international comps in 2024.

因此，我們預計 2024 年全年業績將處於 2% 至 4% 成長長期目標的下限。在國際方面，我很高興地報告，本季度迄今為止，我們已經看到國際比較的適度連續改善，我們英國公司擁有和特許經營的餐廳的積極表現，以及其他國際市場的穩定銷售，抵消了中東的影響衝突。我們正處於一個充滿活力的環境中，並繼續對 2024 年國際比較保持謹慎的展望。

As a reminder, our International segment is the smallest of our operating segments, generating approximately 12% of our adjusted operating income and approximately 7% of our total revenues in 2023. Currently, we anticipate adjusted operating income in 2024 to be between $153 million and $163 million at the midpoint, this is an approximate 6% increase from 2023 when excluding the favorable impact of the 53rd week year-over-year tailwinds include the increase to our fixed commissary margin our international transformation initiatives, including the closure of approximately 50 underperforming company-owned UK restaurants in the second quarter and an increase in North America sales as we accelerate development and deliver another year of positive comp sales. Offsetting these tailwinds will be higher G&A expenses as performance-based compensation ramps back up and higher D&A expense, which is expected to be between $70 million and $75 million in 2024, resulting from the higher tech investments over the last three years.

需要提醒的是，我們的國際部門是我們營運部門中最小的，約占我們調整後營業收入的 12%，佔 2023 年總收入的約 7%。目前，我們預計2024 年調整後營業收入中點將在1.53 億美元至1.63 億美元之間，這比2023 年增長約6%，其中不包括第53 周同​​比順風的有利影響，包括我們的固定小賣部利潤是我們的國際轉型計劃，包括在第二季度關閉約50 家表現不佳的公司自有英國餐廳，以及隨著我們加速發展並實現又一年的積極競爭銷售，北美銷售額有所增加。隨著基於績效的薪酬回升以及更高的D&A 費用，抵消這些不利影響的將是更高的G&A 費用，以及更高的D&A 費用，由於過去三年更高的技術投資，預計到2024 年，D&A費用將在7000 萬美元至7500 萬美元之間。

In terms of other nonoperating expense items, we expect net interest expense to be between $40 million and $45 million. Our capital expenditures to be between $75 million and $85 million, and our tax rate to be between 23% and 26%. I should note that our first quarter tax rate will be higher due to an anticipated shortfall from the vesting of long-term equity plans, resulting in an additional tax expense of roughly $2 million in the quarter when compared with the prior year period.

就其他非營運支出項目而言，我們預計淨利息支出將在 4,000 萬美元至 4,500 萬美元之間。我們的資本支出在 7,500 萬美元到 8,500 萬美元之間，稅率在 23% 到 26% 之間。我應該指出，由於長期股權計畫的歸屬預期出現短缺，我們第一季的稅率將會更高，導致本季與去年同期相比增加約 200 萬美元的稅收費用。

From a development perspective, the North American market is the most attractive development for Papa John's and we remain committed to accelerating our domestic footprint moving forward.

從發展的角度來看，北美市場是棒約翰最具吸引力的發展方向，我們將繼續致力於加速國內業務的發展。

In 2024, we expect net new unit growth for North America to increase more than 20% relative to 2023 net unit openings from an international perspective over the last two years, conflicts in the Ukraine and the Middle East, combined with an overall dynamic geopolitical environment, has changed our run rate of new international restaurant openings for 2024. As a result, we are taking a cautious approach and expect gross openings between 100 and 140 new international restaurants. We will also not hesitate to make additional strategic restaurant closures to improve marketplace health or exit unprofitable restaurants. As such, our anticipated openings could be offset by the closure of underperforming company-owned and franchised restaurants to enhance long-term profitability over the long term. We have great partners who want to grow and are committed to reaching our long-term development target of 5% to 7% net new units annually.

從國際角度來看，過去兩年、烏克蘭和中東的衝突以及整體動態的地緣政治環境，我們預計 2024 年北美的淨新單位增長將比 2023 年淨單位開張增長 20% 以上，改變了我們2024 年新開國際餐廳的運作速度。因此，我們採取謹慎態度，預計新開國際餐廳總數將在 100 至 140 家之間。我們也將毫不猶豫地策略性地關閉更多餐廳，以改善市場健康狀況或退出不盈利的餐廳。因此，我們預期的新開餐廳可能會被關閉表現不佳的公司自營和特許經營餐廳所抵消，以提高長期盈利能力。我們擁有想要發展的優秀合作夥伴，並致力於實現每年淨新單位成長 5% 至 7% 的長期發展目標。

In summary, the Papa John's team has delivered a solid fourth quarter and full year 2023. We are focused on executing our long-term growth strategy and implementing our back to better 2.0 and international transformation initiatives. I'm proud of the Papa John's teams and our strategic plans to deliver growth now I'll turn the call back over to Rob for some final comments. Rob?

總而言之，棒約翰團隊在第四季和 2023 年全年的業績表現出色。我們專注於執行我們的長期成長策略並實施我們的「回歸更好的 2.0」和國際轉型計劃。我為棒約翰的團隊和我們實現成長的策略計畫感到自豪，現在我將把電話轉給羅布，徵求一些最後的意見。搶？

Thank you, Ravi. At Papa John's commitment to our values is top of mind and we are steadfast in creating and nurturing a culture of putting people first, capping off an incredible year. We were recognized by Forbes on their list of World's Best Employers for the 2nd year, running while also included in the Forbes list of Best Employers for Diversity ranking first among pizza companies, as we continue to advance our strategic priority of building a culture of leaders who believe in diversity, inclusivity and winning. We will continue to support our communities team members and franchisees. I am incredibly proud of the work that the entire Papa John's system is doing to drive forward our strategic long term plan. Our North America business is primed for growth as we execute on our back to better 2.0 initiatives. We are continuing to expand our share within the domestic third-party aggregator delivery channel. We are introducing new menu innovations, and we are optimizing our profitability by leveraging our robust consumer data platform. Additionally, our improving supply chain productivity and accelerating North America development will deliver improved bottom line economics system-wide.

謝謝你，拉維。在棒約翰，我們最重視的是對價值觀的承諾，我們堅定不移地創造和培育一種以人為本的文化，為令人難以置信的一年畫下圓滿的句號。隨著我們繼續推進建立領導者文化的策略重點，我們連續第二年被《富比士》評為全球最佳雇主，同時也被列入《富比士》多元化最佳雇主排行榜，在披薩公司中排名第一他們相信多元、包容和勝利。我們將繼續支持我們的社區團隊成員和加盟商。我對棒約翰整個系統為推動我們的長期策略計畫所做的工作感到無比自豪。隨著我們執行更好的 2.0 計劃，我們的北美業務已做好成長準備。我們正在繼續擴大在國內第三方聚合交付管道中的份額。我們正在推出新的菜單創新，並透過利用我們強大的消費者數據平台來優化我們的獲利能力。此外，我們提高供應鏈生產力並加速北美發展將提高整個系統的經濟效益。

In summary, Papa John's has proven that its business fundamentals perform well through all economic cycles. Our leadership team has the experience and vision required to move our Company forward and drive results. Our brand equity is stronger than ever, and our brand awareness continues to grow globally. We have ample development opportunities to drive sustainable, profitable expansion and significant earnings potential. All this means that we are well positioned to deliver shareholder value for the long term.

總之，棒約翰已經證明其業務基本面在所有經濟週期中都表現良好。我們的領導團隊擁有推動公司前進和推動成果所需的經驗和願景。我們的品牌資產比以往任何時候都更強大，我們的品牌知名度在全球範圍內持續增長。我們擁有充足的發展機會來推動可持續的獲利擴張和巨大的獲利潛力。這一切都意味著我們有能力為股東提供長期價值。

At this point I would like to open up the call for questions.

現在我想開放提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Sara Senatore, Bank of America.

薩拉·參議員，美國銀行。

And I just had a quick clarification and then a question on you mentioned that aggregator sales, it grew more than 50% year-over-year in the quarter. And I think given what you said about quarter to date in the first quarter, it sounds like that gap remains pretty wide but with your proprietary channel, I think you are sort of suggesting that it's our response may be to more promotional intensity in that that might be affecting the proprietary channels and perhaps less so to the aggregator. So I just wanted to make sure I understood that correctly. And then the question was about international unit growth. And to what extent is the Middle East, the primary driver, I think the relatively small share of your total international store base versus and perhaps what you're seeing in other markets and the extent to which those are more market-specific? Thanks.

我剛剛做了一個快速澄清，然後你的一個問題提到聚合商銷售額在本季度同比增長了 50% 以上。我認為，考慮到您在第一季度迄今為止所說的情況，聽起來差距仍然很大，但透過您的專有管道，我認為您在暗示我們的反應可能是加大促銷力度，因為可能會影響專有通路，但對聚合商的影響可能較小。所以我只是想確保我理解正確。接下來的問題是關於國際單位成長。中東在多大程度上是主要驅動力，我認為與您在其他市場看到的情況相比，您在國際商店總數中所佔的份額相對較小，以及這些市場在多大程度上更具市場針對性？謝謝。

Thanks, Sarah. So what I would tell you is that and I think we stated this in the past that about right now, the aggregator channels, we believe to be about 50% incremental to our core channels. So um, you know, 50% of that growth would be coming from our core business. Obviously, we have initiatives in place to mitigate and that the any of that shift in volume from our core business to the aggregator. So it's not a one for one transfer, but 50% of the aggregator volume comes from our core channels. And in regards to the Middle East, the Middle East has actually become a bigger part of our international footprint. We have about 2,400 units internationally and the Middle East represents about 400 of 450 of those units. So it's become about 25%, I'm sorry, about 20% of our international footprint.

謝謝，莎拉。所以我要告訴你的是，我認為我們過去曾說過，現在，我們認為聚合管道將比我們的核心管道增加約 50%。所以，你知道，50% 的成長將來自我們的核心業務。顯然，我們已採取措施來緩解任何數量從我們的核心業務轉移到聚合商的情況。所以這不是一對一的轉賬，但 50% 的聚合量來自我們的核心管道。至於中東，中東實際上已經成為我們國際足跡的更大組成部分。我們在全球擁有約 2,400 個單位，其中 450 個單位中，中東約佔 400 個單位。因此，抱歉，它已占我們國際足跡的 25% 左右。

And so it is one of our fastest growing developing regions. And so we did see a pretty significant impact in Q4 to our global development number and that did definitely impact that number. In 2023, we had 68 new units and in that region in 2022 alone. So it is something we're watching closely we have great franchisees there and they have built and been excited about building and it have rapidly grown their development agreements in the region. So it is something we're watching closely and we'll have a we'll have a short term impact as it is called out in the call, Tom, on the on the 2024 numbers.

因此，它是我們成長最快的發展中地區之一。因此，我們確實看到第四季度對我們的全球發展數據產生了相當重大的影響，這確實影響了這個數字。2023 年，我們僅在 2022 年就在該地區新增了 68 個單位。因此，這是我們正在密切關注的事情，我們在那裡擁有優秀的特許經營商，他們已經建造了並且對建造感到興奮，並且在該地區迅速增加了他們的開發協議。因此，這是我們正在密切關注的事情，我們將產生短期影響，正如湯姆在 2024 年數位電話會議中所指出的那樣。

Thank you very much.

非常感謝。

Thank you once on our next question.

謝謝你回答我們的下一個問題。

Peter Saleh, BTIG.

彼得·薩利赫，BTIG。

Yes, great. Thanks. So I was hoping maybe you guys could elaborate a little bit on the on the same-store sales trends that you're currently seeing. It seems like you guys ended the year on a positive note, but starting the year on a negative note, but we're also seeing some strength in that aggregator channel. So I mean, maybe just come back a little bit more to Sara's question. Can you just give us a little bit more color on the same-store sales and maybe what's changed quarter to date?

對，很好。謝謝。所以我希望你們能詳細說明一下你們目前看到的同店銷售趨勢。看起來你們以積極的態度結束了這一年，但以消極的方式開始了這一年，但我們也看到了聚合管道的一些實力。所以我的意思是，也許再回到薩拉的問題上。您能否為我們提供更多關於同店銷售的信息，以及本季迄今為止發生了什麼變化？

Yes. I mean, I think I think the consumer has changed a little bit. I think we're seeing some softness in general in the industry, particularly in January. We have seen some strength in February. We were the number three brand ordered on UberEATS for the Super Bowl on. So, you know, despite some challenging goals situations in January, we've seen some some resiliency. But what I will tell you, Peter, is we always knew that Q1 was going to be our toughest quarter coming into this year. All of the things, all the plans that we have built to deliver strong comp sales growth this year really take effect in Q2. So we're about four weeks away from a 20% increase in media, a new advertising campaign hitting. And we've got great new innovation coming in April as well so in those those impacts are going to sustain through the balance of the year. So we are really excited about Q2 three and four because of all the back, the better 2.0, some things that we announced back in January. So we definitely see strong sales momentum Looking forward, despite a little bit of a soft start here in January, thank you.

是的。我的意思是，我認為消費者已經發生了一些變化。我認為我們看到該行業總體上有些疲軟，特別是在一月份。我們在二月看到了一些強勢。我們是超級盃期間在 UberEATS 上訂購的第三大品牌。所以，你知道，儘管一月份的目標狀況存在一些挑戰性，但我們還是看到了一些彈性。但彼得，我要告訴你的是，我們一直都知道第一季將是我們今年最艱難的季度。我們為今年實現強勁的銷售成長而製定的所有事情、所有計劃都將在第二季真正生效。因此，距離媒體投放量增加 20% 大約還有 4 週時間，新​​的廣告活動將會大受歡迎。我們在四月也推出了偉大的新創新，因此這些影響將在今年餘下的時間裡持續下去。因此，我們對第二季的第三季和第四季感到非常興奮，因為我們在一月份宣布了更好的 2.0 和一些事情。因此，我們肯定會看到強勁的銷售勢頭展望未來，儘管一月份有一點軟啟動，謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

And our next question coming from the line of Lauren Silberman from Glimcher Deutsch from Deutsche Bank. Your line is open.

我們的下一個問題來自德意志銀行 Glimcher Deutsch 的 Lauren Silberman。您的線路已開通。

Thank you very much. And I wanted to ask about the reason we announced new development incentives in the US. Can you just talk about your early conversations with franchisees, any inflection and inquiries commitments for Agile? You're trying to pull forward openings into 2024. Thank you very much.

非常感謝。我想問我們在美國宣布新的發展激勵措施的原因。您能否談談您與特許經營商的早期對話，以及對敏捷的任何變化和詢問承諾？你正試圖將職缺推遲到 2024 年。非常感謝。

Yes, there's definitely a lot of excitement. We've had a lot of conversations, you know, last year in 2023, we delivered 57 net new units in North America. We're going to grow that by at least 20% in 2024, but we're working diligently with our franchisees to help them accelerate. That being said, we also have extended that development incentive into 2025. At this point, it's not exactly the same. The if they get them built in 2024. It's five years of national marketing fund relief if they get them built in 2025, three years of relief. So we wanted to make sure that all of the franchisees that are coming to us saying, hey, I want to take advantage of this, but, you know, I'm not far enough into the development cycle that these stores might move into Q1 next year, wanted to make sure that they had some incentive to do that. So we're definitely seeing excitement or definitely leveraging that incentive. But I will I will tell you beyond the incentives now, Papa John's is set up for long-term development growth. It's not just 24 and 25, and we're really trying to kickstart this this engine, but we have great returns on new store development. Our AUVs have gone up from 850,000 on average, 1.2 million over the last five years. So at the same time, we've been really good about managing in our restaurant profitability as evidenced by 330 basis points of year-over-year growth in our restaurant margins in Q4. So this incentive is definitely a trigger. But this isn't the reason why people are going to develop Papa John's, they're going to develop Papa John's because it's a long-term commitment 10, 20 year cycles of business that they believe will continue to deliver returns far into the future beyond these incentives.

是的，肯定有很多興奮。我們進行了很多對話，你知道，去年 2023 年，我們在北美淨交付了 57 個新單位。到 2024 年，我們的銷售額將成長至少 20%，但我們正在與我們的特許經營商努力合作，幫助他們加速成長。話雖如此，我們也將該發展激勵措施延長至 2025 年。在這一點上，並不完全相同。如果他們在 2024 年建成的話。如果他們在 2025 年建成的話，這將是五年的國家行銷基金減免，即三年的減免。因此，我們希望確保所有來找我們的特許經營商都會說，嘿，我想利用這一點，但是，你知道，我對這些商店可能進入第一季度的開發週期還不夠深入明年，希望確保他們有動力這樣做。所以我們肯定會看到興奮或肯定會利用這種激勵。但我會告訴你，除了現在的激勵措施之外，棒約翰是為了長期發展而設立的。這不僅僅是 24 和 25，我們確實在努力啟動這個引擎，但我們在新店開發方面獲得了巨大的回報。我們的 AUV 數量從平均 85 萬艘增加到過去 5 年的 120 萬艘。因此，與此同時，我們在管理餐廳盈利能力方面做得非常好，第四季度餐廳利潤同比增長 330 個基點就證明了這一點。所以這個激勵絕對是一個觸發因素。但這並不是人們開發棒約翰的原因，他們開發棒約翰是因為這是一個長期承諾，10年、20年的業務週期，他們相信在遙遠的未來將繼續帶來回報除了這些激勵措施之外。

Thank you.

謝謝。

And Kim, next question coming from the line of Brian Bittner with Oppenheimer. Your line is open.

金，下一個問題來自布萊恩·比特納和奧本海默的對話。您的線路已開通。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Good morning.

早安.

You've announced today that you will be closing 50 of the UK Company-operated units. At the same time you gave some positive commentary on trends in the U.K. sequentially improving trends, comps are positive to arguably a better UK outlook. Sorry, these restaurants are closing. Are they just in your mind kind of a lost cause? Or can you help us understand the decision to close these stores rather than continue to train and get the benefits that comes from turning them around?

您今天宣布將關閉 50 家英國公司營運的單位。同時，您對英國趨勢的連續改善給出了一些積極的評論，而比較則對英國前景的改善持積極態度。抱歉，這些餐廳要關門了。在你看來，它們只是一種失敗的事業嗎？或者您能否幫助我們理解關閉這些商店的決定，而不是繼續培訓並獲得扭轉局面帶來的好處？

Yes, for sure. Thank you for the question, Brian. The UK has been something that has been a bit of late, a labor of love over the last 18 months. We believe in the long-term viability of that market. We have great franchisees. We're running great operations, but we also have we've also had some stores that have not been operated as well. And so that's both in the company portfolio that we took over as well as in the franchisee base at large. So as we stated earlier, we have been working over the last year to get a lot of the restaurants that we see having long-term potential, but maybe not operated in the most effective way transition from their former franchisees to new franchisees that are in or current franchisees in the system that run better operations. And we've seen a lot of benefits for those restaurants and improvement both on the top and bottom line from those transitions the 50 restaurants that we're talking about closing our Company stores that we believe will not benefit simply from better operations. They have, as you know, locations where the trade zones have moved or other challenges that frankly will not be easily mitigated to get them to profitability. So we will still own about 68 restaurants in that market. Our objective is to continue to optimize that portfolio, which may include refranchising some of those restaurants to great franchisees, but the ones that we're closing, yes, exactly what you said, those are restaurants that aren't going to be able to get the profitability anytime soon and hence our decision to close those and say.

是肯定的。謝謝你的提問，布萊恩。英國的發展有點晚了，在過去的 18 個月裡，人們熱愛工作。我們相信該市場的長期生存能力。我們有很棒的特許經營商。我們的營運狀況良好，但我們也有一些商店尚未營運。因此，這既存在於我們接管的公司投資組合中，也存在於整個特許經營商基礎中。因此，正如我們之前所說，去年我們一直在努力讓許多我們認為具有長期潛力的餐廳，但可能沒有以最有效的方式運營，從他們的前特許經營商過渡到新的特許經營商。中現有的經營更好的特許經營商。我們已經看到這些餐廳獲得了很多好處，並且從我們正在討論的 50 家餐廳的轉型中看到了營業額和利潤的改善，我們相信這些餐廳不會僅僅從更好的運營中受益。如您所知，他們面臨著貿易區已遷移的地點或其他挑戰，坦白說，這些挑戰不容易緩解以使其實現盈利。因此，我們仍將在該市場擁有約 68 家餐廳。我們的目標是繼續優化該投資組合，其中可能包括將其中一些餐廳重新特許經營給優秀的特許經營商，但我們要關閉的餐廳，是的，正如您所說，這些餐廳將無法很快就能實現盈利，因此我們決定關閉這些項目並說。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thanks, Brian, Kim.

謝謝，布萊恩，金。

And our next question coming from the line of Eric Gonzalez with KeyBanc. Your line is open, please.

我們的下一個問題來自 KeyBanc 的 Eric Gonzalez。您的線路已開通，請。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Good morning. I have a two-part question, if I may, and it's on the back of better 2.0 initiative you've made it clear that national advertising is significantly more efficient than regional or local. But I think there is some skepticism skepticism out there about the impact of going from 8% to 6%. So those two points that you're giving up on the local side, that's the first part.

早安.如果可以的話，我有一個由兩部分組成的問題，這是在更好的 2.0 計劃的支持下，您已經明確表示全國性廣告比區域或本地廣告更有效率。但我認為有人對從 8% 升至 6% 的影響持懷疑態度。所以你在本地方面放棄的這兩點是第一部分。

And the second part is your conversations with your franchisees. Do you get the sense that they're going to abandon the local marketing entirely, or do you think that the majority will keep spending at or near the prior year levels?

第二部分是您與加盟主的對話。您是否感覺到他們將完全放棄本地行銷，或者您是否認為大多數人會繼續保持或接近去年的水平？

I would think that in year one of the program where the commissary commission is just starting to be phased in at the higher rates that the majority of operators will continue to spend the local markets. Is there is there any way that you can maybe quantify the net effect of all that?

我認為，在該計劃的第一年，小賣部佣金剛開始以較高的價格逐步實施，大多數業者將繼續在當地市場消費。有沒有什麼方法可以量化所有這些的淨效應？

Yes, great question, Bill.

是的，很好的問題，比爾。

What I would say is that there's a lot more consistency on the returns on advertising spend at the national level than there are at the local level. You know, some franchisees were able to invest their local dollars in productive ways, a lot of franchisees were not using those dollars as productively and not necessarily because they chose not to adjust because the funds we're not at a scale where they could buy media in their markets that was as productive and efficient as we can buy at the national level. So when we look at the return on advertising spend and we're seeing over a 25% improvement at the national level versus the local level. So if you think about it, we net-net, as we were comparing apples to apples, we're reducing the total advertising investment by about 25%, and you're getting a 25% pickup on that. So that's why we think it's at least comparable. But then when you layer in the tools that we have just developed with our we brought on a new media partner who is working with us to develop better analytical tools that allow us to target more efficiently will allow us to deploy media more efficiently. All of that at the national level will become more effective in those ROIs that we have. We have evaluated in the past. So we have a lot of confidence that the spike going from eight to six, we're going to see significant input improvement and impact of that 6%.

我想說的是，國家層級的廣告支出回報比地方層級的一致性高得多。你知道，一些特許經營商能夠以富有成效的方式投資他們的當地資金，許多特許經營商沒有有效地使用這些美元，這並不一定是因為他們選擇不進行調整，因為我們的資金沒有達到他們可以購買的規模他們市場上的媒體與我們在國家層面上可以買到的一樣富有成效和效率。因此，當我們觀察廣告支出回報時，我們發現國家層級比地方層級提高了 25% 以上。因此，如果你想一想，當我們進行同類比較時，我們將廣告總投資減少了約 25%，而你將獲得 25% 的收益。這就是為什麼我們認為它至少具有可比性。但是，當你將我們剛剛開發的工具分層時，我們帶來了一個新的媒體合作夥伴，他正在與我們合作開發更好的分析工具，使我們能夠更有效地定位目標，從而使我們能夠更有效地部署媒體。國家層面的所有這些都將在我們擁有的投資回報率方面變得更加有效。我們過去曾評估過。因此，我們非常有信心，峰值從 8 增加到 6，我們將看到輸入的顯著改善和 6% 的影響。

On your second question or I will say the second part of the question, because we're only allowing one question, you know, so that's kind of the white label. Anyway said, we do believe that you know, France, some franchisees will continue to spend above that 6% level, especially in the first two years, primarily because they have entered into agreements with local sports teams in their markets that they are contractually obligated to continue with.

關於你的第二個問題，或者我會說問題的第二部分，因為我們只允許一個問題，你知道，所以這是一種白色標籤。無論如何，我們確實相信，法國的一些特許經營商將繼續支出高於 6% 的水平，特別是在前兩年，主要是因為他們已與所在市場的當地運動隊達成協議，他們有合約義務繼續。

But I see some of our franchisees and frankly, some of our company markets that we own.

但我看到了我們的一些特許經營商，坦白說，還有我們擁有的一些公司市場。

We will continue to spend at higher than 6% levels because of those partnerships. And I'll give an example here in Atlanta, we are partners with the Braves and the Hawks and we activate with them and we see great returns when we do that.

由於這些合作夥伴關係，我們的支出將繼續保持在 6% 以上的水平。我將在亞特蘭大舉一個例子，我們是勇士隊和老鷹隊的合作夥伴，我們與他們一起激活，當我們這樣做時，我們看到了巨大的回報。

So we will continue to invest in those partnerships.

因此，我們將繼續投資這些合作夥伴關係。

And I think our franchisees who leverage those types of partnerships in their markets will continue to invest as well.

我認為我們的特許經營商在其市場中利用這些類型的合作夥伴關係也將繼續投資。

Thank you, sir.

謝謝你，先生。

Thank you.

謝謝。

And our next question coming from the line of Brian Mullan with Piper Sandler. Your line is open.

我們的下一個問題來自布萊恩·穆蘭 (Brian Mullan) 和派珀·桑德勒 (Piper Sandler) 的對話。您的線路已開通。

Thank you and just a follow-up on the on the UK business. As you go through this strategic restructuring process, which Rob, I think you said you might refranchise the remaining 68 company-owned stores but I'm just wondering what happens to the commissary business over there?

謝謝您，我只是對英國業務進行跟進。當你經歷這個策略重組過程時，羅布，我想你說過你可能會重新特許經營剩餘的 68 家公司擁有的商店，但我只是想知道那裡的小賣部業務會發生什麼？

Is that something you want to continue to own longer term?

這是您想繼續長期持有的東西嗎？

Is it important strategically for you to own it just any thoughts on that part of the business?

對您來說，僅僅對這部分業務有任何想法就擁有它，這對您來說具有戰略意義嗎？

It is not important for us to strategically own it. If there is there are business models that we are exploring, that would look very different than the model that we employ today. We have been very happy with our ownership. There are teams who run the supply chain, do a great job and manage it very effectively and productively. So we're happy with that. But we're exploring every strategic option. And if we we have opportunities to create more productivity and drive more profitability with less risk. We will definitely explore those opportunities.

對我們來說，策略性地擁有它並不重要。如果我們正在探索某種商業模式，那麼它看起來將與我們今天採用的模式非常不同。我們對我們的所有權感到非常滿意。有些團隊負責營運供應鏈，做得很好，並且非常有效和有成效地進行管理。所以我們對此感到滿意。但我們正在探索每一個戰略選擇。如果我們有機會以更低的風險創造更高的生產力並提高獲利能力。我們一定會探索這些機會。

The closure of these restaurants.

這些餐館關閉。

I just want to make it clear, the closure of these 50 restaurants will be immediately accretive to our income I mean, the usually when you close restaurants, it's a bad thing. You know that the royalty revenues go away or the EBITDA from the restaurants go away. These are all on you know, negative profit restaurants and we to Brian's question, we don't see them turning profitable in the foreseeable future. So these restaurants need to close. They're low volume. Obviously, if they're unprofitable. They're low volume restaurants. So the impact of the supply chain in the short term, we are we will not be as significant as closing, you know, a lot of profitable productive restaurants.

我只是想澄清一下，關閉這 50 家餐廳將立即增加我們的收入，我的意思是，通常當你關閉餐廳時，這是一件壞事。您知道特許權使用費收入會消失，或者餐廳的 EBITDA 會消失。這些都是你知道的，負利潤的餐廳，我們對於布萊恩的問題，我們認為他們在可預見的未來不會獲利。所以這些餐廳需要關閉。它們的音量很小。顯然，如果他們無利可圖的話。他們是低客流量餐廳。因此，短期內供應鏈的影響，我們不會像關閉許多獲利的高效餐廳那麼重要。

The other thing I just want to make clear, we do anticipate sales transfer. So by closing these restaurants, we actually make the other restaurants in the U.K. system from higher volume and more profitable. So there is there is a benefit to them to the balance of the system and some of that volume loss from closing these restaurants will be mitigated by that sales transfer to and the restaurants that remain.

我想澄清的另一件事是，我們確實預期銷售轉移。因此，透過關閉這些餐廳，我們實際上使英國系統中的其他餐廳獲得了更高的銷售和更多的利潤。因此，他們對系統的平衡有好處，並且關閉這些餐廳造成的部分銷售損失將透過銷售轉移到剩餘的餐廳而得到緩解。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you, Brian.

謝謝你，布萊恩。

Thank you.

謝謝。

And our next question coming from the line of Todd Brooks with The Benchmark Company. Your line is open.

我們的下一個問題來自 The Benchmark Company 的 Todd Brooks。您的線路已開通。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Rob, you highlighted at the start of your remarks this morning that on product innovation has been at the heart of the success that you've driven. And I know there's a lot of focus on back to better 2.0 as we're looking to 24. But can you talk to innovation pipeline. And if 24 setting up is more of an of a product line extension year on existing offerings or are this novel platforms or products coming down?

嗨，早安。感謝您提出我的問題。羅布，您在今天早上的演講開始時強調，產品創新是您所推動的成功的核心。我知道大家都在關注回歸更好的 2.0，因為我們正在展望 24。但你能談談創新管道嗎？如果 24 小時的設立更多的是對現有產品的產品線延伸年，或者這個新穎的平台或產品會下降？

The line that you think could be needle movers as well?

您認為這條線也可以是針動裝置嗎？

Thanks.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Yes.

是的。

So when I think of Innovene, I'll speak to your specific question around product innovation. But when I think of innovation, I think about innovation across all of our demand driving capabilities. So product, loyalty marketing, we've already talked a lot about marketing and the advancements that we're making through our more efficient media capabilities and targeting capabilities on the innovation and our brand positioning as we launch our new campaign with the Martin Agency.

因此，當我想到 Innovene 時，我會回答您關於產品創新的具體問題。但當我想到創新時，我想到的是我們所有需求驅動能力的創新。因此，在產品、忠誠度行銷方面，我們已經討論了很多關於行銷以及我們在與 Martin Agency 合作推出新活動時透過更有效率的媒體能力和​​創新定位能力以及我們的品牌定位所取得的進步。

Another one I'll talk about is loyalty know, our loyalty program has been very effective for us. Over the last five years. We've gone from 12 members to over 30 to 12 million members to over 32 million members in five years, but it's not just the sheer number. It's the way we've leveraged the platform both to us and both to deliver incentives to our most valuable customers. But also to create I sense a hospitality with our brands to make sure that people feel special when they come to our organic channels. I mean, we do things like grant early access to our new product innovations in and, you know, give them access to Papa John's gear for our favor, fans and different surprise and delight things that we do for those loyalty members, we can get better at that. And we are currently working to drive some optimization into our loyalty platform to enhance both the hospitality component it provides, but and also the incentive component and how we manage our Papa does and the incentive. So there's a lot of innovation on the marketing side, the loyalty side on the product innovation side, we've been very innovative over the last three years. We've launched things like property as we launched things like Papa bites. It's been a challenge for us to really advertise those great things our customers tell us that they love it. But you know, in this business you have to make sure you're advertising pizza. Otherwise, you take a lot of check degradation. So we're going to get innovative even on how we promote our products. We are going to launch some, you know, in April with a new innovation that we will be sharing here shortly. But that innovation will be across multiple platforms that will be across pizza. It'll be across pop ideas and it will be across our base and we will advertise those holistically. So we're creating awareness of other products that we have to have less household penetration less attachment than our core pizza. So it's not even just the unique ingredients that we're creating innovation around. It's how we're promoting things, how we're driving our entire holistic menu to drive both drive our pizza business, but also drive our attachment. So yes, we do have new platforms coming. And we also have new ways in which we're going to advertise and create awareness of those platforms.

我要談論的另一個問題是忠誠度，我們的忠誠度計劃對我們來說非常有效。在過去的五年裡。五年內，我們的會員數量從 12 名增加到超過 3,000 至 1,200 萬，再到超過 3,200 萬，但這不僅僅是數量。這就是我們利用該平台為我們自己以及為我們最有價值的客戶提供激勵的方式。而且也要創造我對我們品牌的熱情好客，確保人們在來到我們的有機管道時感到特別。我的意思是，我們會做一些事情，例如讓他們儘早獲得我們的新產品創新，你知道，為了我們的支持、粉絲和我們為那些忠誠會員所做的不同的驚喜和喜悅的事情，我們可以讓他們獲得棒約翰的裝備，我們可以得到更擅長這一點。我們目前正在努力推動我們的忠誠度平台的一些優化，以增強其提供的招待部分，同時也增強激勵部分以及我們如何管理爸爸的工作和激勵。因此，行銷方面有很多創新，產品創新方面的忠誠度方面也有很多創新，過去三年我們一直在創新。我們推出了諸如「爸爸叮咬」之類的產品，也推出了諸如房地產之類的產品。對我們來說，真正宣傳那些客戶告訴我們他們喜歡的好東西是一個挑戰。但你知道，在這個行業，你必須確保你在為披薩做廣告。否則，你會進行大量的檢查降級。因此，我們將在產品推廣方式上進行創新。你知道，我們將在四月推出一些帶有新創新的產品，我們很快就會在這裡分享。但這種創新將跨越披薩的多個平台。它將跨越流行創意，並將跨越我們的基礎，我們將全面宣傳這些理念。因此，我們正在提高人們對其他產品的認識，即我們必須比我們的核心披薩擁有更少的家庭滲透率和更少的依戀。因此，我們創造創新的不僅是獨特的成分。這就是我們推廣事物的方式，我們如何推動整個整體菜單的方式，以推動我們的披薩業務，同時也推動我們的依戀。所以，是的，我們確實有新的平台即將推出。我們還有新的方式來宣傳這些平台並提高這些平台的知名度。

Recruitments are up.

招聘已開始。

Thank you in Kim and our next question coming from the line of Alexander Slagle with Jefferies.

謝謝 Kim，我們的下一個問題來自 Alexander Slagle 和 Jefferies。

Your line is open airbags.

你的線是打開的安全氣囊。

Good morning.

早安.

I just wanted to ask on the international development piece and the slowdown that you see in 24. And I know a lot of that has to do with specific and challenges in the UK and Middle East, but trying to think about how how quickly things could reaccelerate you know, into 25. I mean, obviously a lot of different scenarios for those markets. But are there other regions that you think could sort of an acceleration in growth to help sort of bring that that international gross development number back up over 200, but kind of where you had been or are you going to dissipate a longer period of time to get that back up? Just trying to get a sense for how quickly things can pivot back on that.

我只是想問國際發展問題以及 24 小時經濟放緩的情況。我知道這在很大程度上與英國和中東的具體情況和挑戰有關，但試著想想事情會以多快的速度重新加速，達到 25 小時。我的意思是，顯然這些市場有很多不同的場景。但是，您是否認為還有其他地區可以加速成長，以幫助將國際總發展數字回升至 200 以上，但您曾經去過的地方，或者您是否會花費更長的時間來實現這一目標？ 把那個備份起來嗎？只是想了解事情能以多快的速度恢復到這一點。

So great question, Alex. What I would tell you is that and I'll get to your specific question, but we are hyper focused in 2024 on our domestic development business. So when you ask about where the upside is to maybe close some of that gap. I'm hopeful that that upside is domestic. And I want to make I what make sure that we have been as transparent as possible and letting everyone know that one domestic restaurant opening is equivalent to four international openings.

這是一個很好的問題，亞歷克斯。我要告訴你的是，我會回答你的具體問題，但 2024 年我們將高度關注我們的國內開發業務。因此，當你問到好處在哪裡時，也許可以縮小一些差距。我希望這種優勢能體現在國內。我想確保我們盡可能透明，讓每個人都知道一家國內餐廳的開幕相當於四家國際餐廳的開幕。

Okay? So we know our royalty rates internationally are typically lower because of our master franchisee agreements than they are domestically and our AUVs are about half the size on average. So this everything that we're doing right now around back to better 2.0 driving this development incentive, we've rebuilt our internal development team across construction, real estate administration. Every every facet of the development pipeline is really to get this to this domestic development engine rolling. And there will be a huge amount of value creation over the next five years from doing that.

好的？因此，我們知道，由於我們的主特許經營協議，我們的國際特許權使用費通常低於國內特許權使用費，而且我們的 AUV 平均規模約為國內的一半。因此，我們現在所做的一切都是為了更好的 2.0 驅動開發激勵，我們重建了建築、房地產管理的內部開發團隊。開發管道的每一個方面都是為了讓這個國內開發引擎滾動。這樣做將在未來五年內創造大量價值。

Okay. So I just want to make that point then to speak directly to your international question. There's really three markets that are impacting our openings over the next couple of years.

好的。所以我只想直接談談你的國際議題。實際上，三個市場正在影響我們未來幾年的開幕。

One is the UK. The UK has been a strong development market for us. We've been opening about 50 units a year in the UK for the last couple of years. The problem is those restaurants haven't always been best.

一是英國。英國對我們來說一直是個強大的發展市場。過去幾年，我們每年在英國開設約 50 家門市。問題是這些餐廳並不總是最好的。

Restaurants were hands.

餐館是雙手。

You know why we're choosing to close some of them. We have moved away from a strategy of open restaurants at all costs and give franchisees the ability to open restaurants at all costs like we are making sure that the restaurants that are opening moving forward internationally are looked at with the same scrutiny that we have domestically.

您知道為什麼我們選擇關閉其中一些。我們已經放棄了不惜一切代價開設餐廳的策略，並賦予特許經營商不惜一切代價開設餐廳的能力，就像我們確保在國際上開設的餐廳受到與我們在國內相同的審查一樣。

If someone submits a site domestically, we go out and check the site make sure it's a good site.

如果有人在國內提交網站，我們會出去檢查網站以確保它是一個好的網站。

We do all the analytics to make sure that this restaurant has the greatest chance and probability of success. We haven't been as disciplined internationally. So we are implementing those capabilities and that oversight, that's why we put three business units to build three business units in the regions where we want to grow to be able to give some of that infrastructure and support to these markets. So the UK, Russia and the Middle East are the three markets where we have been really successful at developing over the last five years and have been impacted over the last couple of years and more recently in the Middle East. So so those are the openings challenges, but this number that we put out today is really a function more of closures than it is a lack of openings. We are closing. We are strategically closing these 50 units that takes the number down from where our run rate right out of the gate. And then we're also working with franchisees to help them optimize their portfolio of ReSTOR.

我們進行所有分析，以確保這家餐廳擁有最大的成功機會和機率。我們在國際上還沒有那麼有紀律。因此，我們正在實施這些能力和監督，這就是為什麼我們在我們希望發展的地區設立三個業務部門，以便能夠為這些市場提供一些基礎設施和支援。因此，英國、俄羅斯和中東是我們在過去五年中發展得非常成功的三個市場，並且在過去幾年以及最近在中東受到了影響。因此，這些都是空缺挑戰，但我們今天公佈的數字實際上更多是因為關閉而不是缺乏空缺。我們要關門了。我們正在策略性地關閉這 50 個單位，這將使我們的運行率從一開始就下降。然後我們也與特許經營商合作，幫助他們優化 ReSTOR 產品組合。

If franchisees are spending resources running restaurants that are never going to be profitable.

如果特許經營商花費資源經營餐廳，則永遠不會獲利。

That's taking away the resources from the restaurants that they should be focused on growing and building new restaurants that can perform better than the sub-optimized restaurants that are already operating. So we have baked in strategic closures globally into that number that we shared today. So once we get through that and that optimization of the global footprint. And assuming that some of the geopolitical macroeconomic situations change, we have every belief and confidence in our long term international growth rate and development.

這剝奪了餐廳的資源，他們本應專注於發展和建造新餐廳，這些新餐廳的表現比已經運營的未優化餐廳更好。因此，我們已將全球範圍內的策略關閉數量調整為我們今天分享的數字。因此，一旦我們完成了這個任務以及全球足跡的最佳化。假設一些地緣政治宏觀經濟情勢發生變化，我們對我們的長期國際成長率和發展充滿信心和信心。

Great.

偉大的。

Thanks for that.

感謝那。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Alex and Kim.

亞歷克斯和金。

And our next question coming from the line of Andrew Strelzik with BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Andrew Strelzik。您的線路已開通。

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. I just had a clarification. And then a question on the acceleration in or the increase in U.S. openings. Is that growth going to be back-half weighted given the timing of the incentives and build times and things like that. So that's just a clarification. And then my question is about the international transformation initiatives. You talked about the hubs, UK optimization. I'm just curious, what's next on the check list within that transformation? Or what are the next milestones kind of thinking maybe more from an operational perspective and then the footprint?

嗨，早安。感謝您提出問題。我剛剛做了一個澄清。然後是關於美國職缺加速或增加的問題。考慮到激勵措施的時機和建設時間以及類似的事情，這種增長是否會被後半加權。這只是一個澄清。然後我的問題是關於國際轉型措施。您談到了樞紐、英國優化。我只是很好奇，在該轉型中檢查清單上的下一步是什麼？或者下一個里程碑是什麼，可能更多地從營運角度思考，然後是足跡？

Great questions.

很好的問題。

I mean, development is always kind of back half-weighted.

我的意思是，發展總是半加權的。

Q4 is always the biggest development quarter. So that is that's kind of the normal cycle of development. That being said, yes, I would expect that the upside potential of the development incentives that we've put out there would come to fruition later in the year, given the you know, if they're just starting some of these projects in Q1, it's going to take in a seven to nine months for those to come to fruition. So so yes, is the answer come on the international side know, building these these units. These are these teams. We still have markets internationally that don't have digital ordering. I mean that's that's you know that every market and every every restaurant, every market globally does not look like the Papa John's model that you see here in the US and there are markets that aren't necessary. Some markets use aggregators at scale, almost exclusively Some markets have really not yet tapped into the aggregator model. Some markets have not been leveraging product innovation that drive their business, some marketing. There's a lot of different things. These are hubs that we've built and APACEMEA. and Latin America will be will all have marketing technology and operational resources to guide their future path and drive not just new store development, but profit comp and profit growth in the stores that already exist. I mean, if we were able to use to increase the international AUVs, just to 75 or 80% of what we have in the US. I mean the amount of income grows for our franchisees and royalty growth for us would be worth two to three years of new store development. So we really fundamentally believe that we can help these franchisees significantly accelerate. They're comp and profit growth through the investments we're making in these regional hubs.

第四季始終是發展最大的季度。這就是正常的開發週期。話雖這麼說，是的，我預計我們在那裡推出的發展激勵措施的上行潛力將在今年晚些時候實現，因為你知道，如果他們剛剛在第一季度啟動其中一些項目，這些需要七到九個月的時間才能實現。所以，是的，國際方面知道的答案是建造這些單位。這些就是這些團隊。我們的國際市場仍然沒有數位訂購。我的意思是，你知道全球的每個市場、每個餐廳、每個市場都不像你在美國看到的棒約翰模式，有些市場是不必要的。一些市場幾乎完全使用大規模聚合器。一些市場尚未利用產品創新來推動其業務，一些行銷。有很多不同的事情。這些是我們建立的 AACEMEA 中心。拉丁美洲和拉丁美洲都將擁有行銷技術和營運資源來指導他們的未來道路，不僅推動新店的開發，而且推動現有商店的利潤競爭和利潤成長。我的意思是，如果我們能夠增加國際 AUV 數量，只需達到美國 AUV 數量的 75 或 80%。我的意思是我們的特許經營商的收入增長和我們的特許權使用費增長將值得兩到三年的新店開發。因此，我們從根本上相信我們可以幫助這些特許經營商顯著加速發展。它們是透過我們在這些區域中心進行的投資而實現的綜合和利潤增長。

And our next question coming from the line of Dennis Geiger with UBS. Your line is open.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的丹尼斯蓋革。您的線路已開通。

Great.

偉大的。

Thank you. Rob, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about your comment on the consumer changing a bit as the calendar turned. And certainly we've heard this from others this earnings season, but can you highlight anything more on what that means and what you've observed with your customer, whether it's ordering or spending patterns? And more importantly on that, you talked to the barbell strategy, but can you speak a little more to your value efforts, maybe where value scores are and sort of how you're thinking about promos and value and what looks like an increasingly promotional category right now?

謝謝。羅布，我想知道您是否可以多談談您對消費者隨著日曆的變化而發生一些變化的評論。當然，我們在本財報季也從其他人那裡聽到了這一點，但是您能否進一步強調一下這意味著什麼以及您在客戶中觀察到的情況，無論是訂購還是消費模式？更重要的是，您談到了槓鈴策略，但您能否多談談您的價值努力，也許價值分數在哪裡，以及您如何看待促銷和價值以及看起來越來越促銷的類別現在？

Now it's a great. Great question, Dennis. And I think I think you nailed it, um, you know, we have seen across this industry and across retail and across a lot of industries just a little bit of consumer spending softness. I don't think it surprises any of us given, you know, where the credit cards are at and some of the other macroeconomic dynamics at play. That being said, I have continued to reinforce and it's based on historical data that that our segment of this industry is well positioned to come to persevere and grow through tough, challenging consumer and economic times. I mean, that's what we've seen in the past. We we being pizza offer an amazing value relative to the other segments of the industry, whether it's find it whether it's a dine-in or other QSR. And I would argue that the gap it has never been greater. I think that, you know, pizza in general has taken less pricing than a lot of the other QSR segments. And I think as we if we believe that there is going to be some consumer challenges over over the mid to long term pizza is going to benefit from it. And so we have definitely worked really hard to try to balance that barbell of premium and value heading into 2024 and as evidenced by right now, we're running a national promotion, which is eight 99 large one topping, which is the hottest deal we have run since I came to Papa John's. We've never done anything like that. And so we've got a competitive category. We've got competitors out there with more scale than we do, who had been very aggressive on promoted pricing. And so we were battling for transactions with them. And so we have to have a good value prop out there. And I've always said that we do given, you know, we've always had a low carryout special and other specials on our menu, but we've never nationally promoted them. So we've done that the last couple of weeks and to battle for those transactions, but we're not moving away from our strategy. I've always said we can't beat our competitors by trying to be our competitor. So we will continue to deliver premium innovation that, you know, balances out the other side of that barbell, while we continue to evaluate our need and desire to launch to Enno to fight for that value customer as well so I feel like we've got a balanced strategy moving forward. I feel like we've been very competitive in Q one. And like I said earlier in the call, the full force of back to better 2.0 marketing initiatives, new agency, new media, 20% increase in national investment all hits in Q2. So and that continues throughout the balance of the year. So I think we're going to be right there being able to continue to be very competitive in this marketplace as at regardless of what the macroeconomic environment looks like here and Ladies and gentlemen, that's all the time we have for question and answer session.

現在已經很棒了。很好的問題，丹尼斯。我認為我認為你已經做到了，嗯，你知道，我們已經看到整個行業、零售業和許多行業的消費者支出略有疲軟。考慮到信用卡的現狀以及其他一些宏觀經濟動態的影響，我認為這不會令我們任何人感到驚訝。話雖這麼說，我還是繼續強調，基於歷史數據，我們這個行業的細分市場處於有利地位，能夠在艱難、充滿挑戰的消費者和經濟時期堅持下去並實現成長。我的意思是，這就是我們過去所看到的。相對於該行業的其他細分市場，我們的披薩提供了驚人的價值，無論是堂食還是其他快餐。我認為差距從未如此之大。我認為，你知道，披薩的定價總體上低於許多其他快餐領域。我認為，如果我們相信從中長期來看，消費者將面臨一些挑戰，披薩將會從中受益。因此，進入 2024 年，我們確實非常努力地平衡溢價和價值，正如現在所證明的那樣，我們正在進行全國促銷活動，其中有 8 個 99 個大件頂料，這是我們最熱門的交易自從我來到棒約翰店後就一直跑步。我們從來沒有做過這樣的事情。所以我們有一個有競爭力的類別。我們的競爭對手比我們規模更大，他們在促銷定價方面非常積極。所以我們一直在與他們爭奪交易。所以我們必須有一個好的價值支柱。我總是說，我們確實提供了，你知道，我們的菜單上一直有低外帶特色菜和其他特色菜，但我們從未在全國範圍內推廣過它們。因此，我們在過去幾週已經做到了這一點，並為這些交易而戰，但我們並沒有放棄我們的策略。我總是說，我們無法透過試圖成為競爭對手來擊敗競爭對手。因此，我們將繼續提供優質創新，平衡槓鈴的另一面，同時我們繼續評估我們的需求和願望，推出 Enno 來爭取價值客戶，所以我覺得我們已經制定了一個平衡的前進策略。我覺得我們在第一個問題中非常有競爭力。正如我之前在電話會議中所說，全面恢復更好的 2.0 行銷舉措、新代理商、新媒體、國家投資增加 20% 都將在第二季度實現。這樣的情況在今年餘下的時間裡一直持續著。因此，我認為，無論宏觀經濟環境如何，我們都將能夠在這個市場上繼續保持非常有競爭力，女士們、先生們，這就是我們進行問答的所有時間。

I'll now turn the call back over to Mr. Rob Lynch for any closing.

現在我將把電話轉回給羅布·林奇先生以結束會議。

Well, thanks, everyone.

嗯，謝謝大家。

For your time this morning and for your continued interest in Papa John's, I think as you can see, we have continued to persevere through some challenging international environments. We have shifted some of our focus to driving our very profitable and accretive domestic development. And we're very excited about the balance of 2024 and seeing the impact of the marketing and product initiatives that we have underway. So I look forward to speaking with you at our annual meeting of shareholders on May second and then sharing our first quarter 2024 results with you as well.

鑑於您今天早上的時間以及您對棒約翰的持續關注，我認為正如您所看到的，我們在一些充滿挑戰的國際環境中繼續堅持不懈。我們已將部分重點轉向推動利潤豐厚且增值的國內發展。我們對 2024 年的剩餘時間感到非常興奮，並看到我們正在進行的行銷和產品計劃的影響。因此，我期待在 5 月 2 日舉行的年度股東大會上與您交談，然後也與您分享我們的 2024 年第一季業績。

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank our team members and franchisees. They continue to show unbelievable resiliency and agility during these unique times. So thank you, everyone.

我也想藉此機會感謝我們的團隊成員和加盟商。在這些獨特的時期，他們繼續表現出令人難以置信的韌性和敏捷性。謝謝大家。

Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。